Deere Must Face FTC Right-to-Repair Lawsuit, Judge Rules

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Mike Scarcella reported that “agriculture equipment giant Deere must face a lawsuit by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission accusing the company of forcing farmers to use its authorized dealer network and driving up their costs for parts and repairs, a U.S. judge has ruled.”

“U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in the federal court in Rockford, Illinois, on Monday ruled for now to reject Deere’s effort to end the lawsuit, which was filed at the end of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration in January,” Scarcella reported. “The lawsuit alleges Deere is violating federal antitrust law by controlling too tightly where and how farmers can get their equipment repaired, allowing the Illinois-based company to charge artificially higher prices. The FTC was joined in its lawsuit by Michigan, Wisconsin, and three other U.S. states.”

Bloomberg Law’s Benjamin Hernandez reported that Johnston “turned aside Deere’s argument Monday that the government’s claims were factually and legally insufficient regarding the company’s power in the ‘aftermarket’ for tractors. The judge also rejected Deere’s challenges to the FTC’s constitutional structure, including arguments related to the Supreme Court’s 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, as well as the states’ standing and timeliness in bringing the case.”

“‘To be sure, like nearly all sequels, Deere edited the dialogue and cast some new characters, giving cameos to veteran stars like Humphrey’s Executor,’ Johnston wrote, referencing an earlier ruling that denied Deere a judgment on the pleadings in multidistrict litigation over similar alleged conduct,” Hernandez reported. “‘But ultimately the plot felt predictable, the script derivative.’”

“Deere didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment,” Hernandez reported.

What Repair Challenges Do Farmers Say They Face?

NBC News’ Natalie Kainz and Adrienne Broaddus reported in April that “spring is planting season for Missouri farmer Jared Wilson. It’s his only opportunity during the year to get his corn and soybeans sown and sprayed. Not getting it right would affect his yield. But every year, he says, he struggles to get his John Deere equipment to do the job. Broken down combines, tractors, and harvesters have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix.”

“Wilson and others accuse John Deere (in a lawsuit separate from the FTC’s) of blocking farmers and everyday mechanics from fixing equipment without going through John Deere dealers,” Kainz and Broaddus reported. “Although the company doesn’t prohibit users from fixing equipment themselves, the lawsuit claims it locks users out of repairs because of the limited access to software that only dealerships can access. The lawsuit says that makes most fixes nearly impossible. A lot like cars, the farming equipment is equipped with sensors.”

“The John Deere tractors, for instance, run on firmware that is necessary for basic functions, according to the lawsuit. If something is wrong with the equipment, a code will appear on a display monitor inside the machine,” Kainz and Broaddus reported. “The suit says interpreting the error codes on tractors, for instance, requires software that ‘Deere refuses to make available to farmers.’”

“Right-to-repair advocates say the digitization of agricultural equipment — with its various computers and sensors — has made self-repair almost impossible, forcing farmers to depend on the manufacturers. Wilson, for example, said he has to rely on his local John Deere dealership, which he said takes longer and charges more than an independent repair worker,” Kainz and Broaddus reported. “In 2019, Wilson said, a John Deere dealership had his fertilizer spreader in the shop for 28 days before it was fixed.”

Ruling Adds to Deere’s Right-to-Repair Legal Woes

Scarcella reported that “the ruling adds to Deere’s legal woes over repair services. Johnston ruled in 2023 that the company must face similar claims from crop farms and farmers that it illegally restricted maintenance and repair services through the use of authorized dealers.”

“The FTC and states, like the private plaintiffs, contend that Deere is abusing its market power, allowing the company to control prices and minimize competition,” Scarcella reported. “Deere is blocking farmers from acquiring the ‘tools and information necessary to repair their equipment in a timely and cost-effective manner,’ the FTC had said in a court filing in April.”

Deere Must Face FTC Right-to-Repair Lawsuit, Judge Rules was originally published by Farmdoc.